The Answer to All Problems
Pete DuBruhle
Synchronous Solutions
This story concerns a shop that was experiencing a severe drop-off in general productivity and income. Lead times had shot up. Rather than wait, retail and kitchen and bath customers were going elsewhere. Everyone was on edge and even the scheduler would not commit to the dates they were handing out.
Synchronous Solutions had been contacted in an act approaching desperation.
The initial testy attitude of the staff was in stark contrast with the location of the shop itself, which was nestled in one of the most beautiful places in the country.
The walkthrough, though not the worst shop I’d seen, showed a shop in near complete chaos. Completely full of work-in-progress, with job parts piled on job parts, the overflowing piles were all destined for the new CNC.
This was back in the day when the CNC router was sold as the solution to all fabrication problems. Because the program could be downloaded directly from the programmer in the front office, the quality issues that had plagued the shop now had nearly completely disappeared. But then, so had the flow through the shop.
As I stood looking back at the shop, I was reminded not so much of a production facility, but a sink with a clogged drain.
Back in the conference room, the conversation between the owner, production manager, and scheduler was tense. Ownership was frustrated. “I bought you the very best equipment and all hell broke loose!” The production manager was incensed. “Sure, we have new equipment, but you won’t let me use it the way it’s supposed to be used.” The scheduler, obviously the mouse between two angry elephants, clearly would have preferred to be somewhere else.
So, I started asking questions.
“When did you begin using the new CNC?”
“About four months ago,” was the answer. I was curious as to when the problems began to appear and was told that they started about a month after the new machine came online (a result of draining off the products that had already been dimensioned in the shop). Finally, I asked what product they were running across the new machine. Well, you know where this is going… Essentially, everything that needed cutting, other than straight cuts which ran across the saw, now ran across the CNC.
When I questioned the loading of the machine, both the production manager and the scheduler became silent. The owner took a deep breath and angrily answered that since the folks on the floor seemed incapable of building a dimensionally accurate top, he had decided to get the new machine and reduce headcount. (Upon asking, I was told that 4 employees were let go or reassigned from the fabrication area.) As mentioned before, the programming of the new machine assured that the cuts would be per the templates. (Templating was still done with sticks.) All that was needed was assembly, edge detailing, polish and install. As far as he could see the quality problem had largely gone away, but now they couldn’t get orders through the shop.
Some quick calculations showed that total operational time on the CNC was about 65% of the shift and that was including recent improvements. Prior to that, it had been more on the order of 55%. Run time was calculated as a percentage of total time available on the shift including loading, breaks, and wait time. They ran a single shift.
Clearly, the limitation of throughput in the shop was the new machine. My suggestion that they schedule to run the CNC for 100% of the shift was met with strong cultural pushback. When I pointed out that if they did, it would mean an immediate 19% increase in time utilization and therefore that much increased throughput. Things got quiet. When I suggested offloading some of the simpler cutting operations to a manual approach, and reassigning some of the idling reassigned folks, I got a stone wall. Ownership was adamant that it would only mean a return to quality problems. My suggestion that they buy another CNC machine was met with a flat no. “Hell, they don’t know how to use this one, why would I buy them another one?”
Three weeks after my visit, I got a call from the owner asking me to return. Apparently, they had tested keeping the machine running during lunch and breaks and the results spoke for themselves. They needed help and were prepared to consider and make the necessary changes.
If you would like to get your equipment working FOR you and maximize the return on your investments, Contact us at www.synchronoussolutions.com .
Peter DuBrule – Synchronous Solutions
We help clients control the flow of information and materials through their system to increase profitability, decrease process times, and reduce chaos.” Contact us at www.synchronoussolutions.com .